1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drinking straw with valve function, and more particularly to a drinking straw with valve function, in which a tube serving as a valve is arranged inside a bellows portion included in the straw, in order to selectively open and close a passage defined in the straw, thereby controlling spouting of the liquid from the beverage container, so that the straw can serve as a tap for the beverage container, as well as its original straw function.
2. Description of the Related Art
Rod-shaped drinking straws are well known. A rod-shaped drinking straw is typically configured to have a hollow rod shape having a passage extending throughout the straw. Since the straw extends linearly, a user can drink liquid contained in a beverage container only when the user""s mouth is aligned with the container. For this reason, such straw is inconvenient to use in drinking liquid. Furthermore, it may damage the user""s throat or mouth. In order to solve these problems, a drinking straw has been developed, which is provided at a substantially central portion thereof with bellows to adjust orientation of the straw, thereby also adjusting spouting direction of the straw.
Although each of the above mentioned conventional drinking straws allows a user to drink in a stable way a desired volume of liquid contained in a beverage container, it still is disadvantageous in that the container has an outlet of which size is considerably larger than that of the straw, defining a gap between the outlet and the straw, thereby resulting in spillage of liquid from the container through the gap if the container is tipped over. In addition, since the straw floats in the container, the user has to hold it by hand while drinking, which is inconvenient. Furthermore, the passage of the straw is always in an open state. For this reason, liquid may unintentionally flow from the container through the open passage of the straw in the event of an impact unintentionally applied to the container when the user drinks the beverage using the straw while walking or riding in a car. In this case, the spouted liquid may contaminate the user""s clothes. Additionally, liquid contained in the container may be polluted by foreign matters, such as dust, possibly introduced into the container through the gap between the outlet and the straw.
In order to solve the above mentioned problems, the applicant proposed a straw having a valve function. This straw is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,360, 912, and also illustrated in FIG. 1, bearing a reference numeral 100.
As shown in FIG. 1, the straw 100, which has a basic configuration including a straw body 110 defined therein with a passage extending throughout the length of the straw body 110, and a bellows portion 120 formed at a desired portion of the straw body 110 while having a desired length, includes a tube 130 arranged in the bellows portion 120 and integrally formed with the straw body 110 while having a desired elasticity. When the upper portion of the straw body 110 rotates downwardly, the bellows portion 120 bends as shown in FIG. 2a, causing the tube 130 to bend, subsequently allowing opposite inner surface portions thereof to come into close contact with each other. As a result, the passage of the straw body 110 is closed, thereby preventing liquid contained in the container from flowing outwardly through the straw 100.
In order to apply the straw of FIG. 1 to a beverage container, it is necessary to mount the coupling and holding members to the beverage container. However, the coupling and holding members need to be manufactured separately, which requires a complex manufacturing process. Furthermore, such straw is not easy to mount, is inconvenient to use and also does not look very good. Although a user can conveniently use the straw by selectively opening or closing the straw of FIG. 1 because of the valve function provided by the tube arranged inside the bellows portion 120, rotating the straw in an upward or downward direction for opening or closing the straw is not that easy because the straw has an increased thickness due to the provision of the tube inside the bellows portion 120. Although the bellows portion 120 bends only by an angle of about 90xc2x0, as shown in FIG. 2b, the inner and outer portions 132 and 134 of the tube 130 come into contact with each other while bending. At this time, the inner portion 132 of the tube 130 bends while having a certain radius of curvature, whereas the outer portion 134 of the tube 130 is tightly strained at opposite ends thereof while maintaining a substantially planar shape. That is, the inner and outer portions 132 and 134 of the tube 130 are in contact with each other along a narrow area. Consequently, the contact force between inner and outer tube portions 132 and 134 becomes weak. For this reason, the pressure generated in the beverage container in the event of an external force applied to the beverage container may easily exceed the force maintaining contact between the inner and outer tube portions 132 and 134. In other words, liquid may easily spout from the beverage container through the tube 130 if an excessive external force is applied to the beverage container.
Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above mentioned drawbacks, and an object of the invention is to provide a drinking straw with valve function, which has an improved mountability to a beverage container, is convenient to use, and has an improved appearance.
Another object of the invention is to provide a drinking straw with valve function, of which configuration allows easy manipulation of the straw as well as an improved performance for closing a passage defined in the straw.
In accordance with one aspect, the present invention provides a drinking straw with valve function adapted to be mounted to a beverage container, the straw comprising a straw member including a straw body, a bellows portion formed at a desired portion of the straw body, and a tube arranged in the bellows portion while being integral with the straw body and having a desired elasticity, further comprising: a straw mounting member for mounting the straw member to the beverage container, the straw mounting member including a fixed base attached to a top of the beverage container while being in close contact with the top of the beverage container, a straw fitting section formed at one side portion of the fixed base, and adapted to mount the straw member thereto, and a straw holding section formed at the other side portion of the fixed base, and adapted to hold the straw member in a bent state or to release the straw member from the bent state.
In accordance with another aspect, the present invention provides a drinking straw with valve function comprising a hollow straw body having a passage defined therein, a bellows portion formed at the straw body while having a desired length, and a tube arranged in the bellows portion, further comprising: a cut-out formed at an inner tube portion of the tube in a region where the inner tube portion bends, the cut-out having a desired shape while serving to provide an improved passage closing function when the bellows portion bends.